The fifth meeting of the AHRC Microfinance Research Network was held on 4 November 2010 in the University of Birmingham Conference Centre. This event was jointly organized with the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) in Brussels, co-directed by Dr Marek Hudon, and the two themes were: women and microfinance and donors and microfinance. We were very pleased to have as speakers the distinguished Patrice North (University College London), Roy Mersland (University of Agder, Norway), Ahmad Nawaz (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics), Bruno Molijn (Oxfam Novib) and Bernd Balkenhol (the ILO).

The Fifth meeting of the AHRC Microfinance Research Network will be held on 4 November 2010 in the University of Birmingham Conference Centre. This event is being jointly organized with the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) in Brussels co-directed by Dr Marek Hudon. The two themes are: women and microfinance and donors and microfinance. The confirmed speakers are Patrice North, Inez Murray, Ahmad Nawaz, Bruno Molijn and Bernd Balkenhol.

On the 3rd November in the afternoon (2-5.30 pm), there will be discussions about possible funded research projects involving Network members, and a paper will be given by Roy Mersland (University of Agder, Norway). This event will be held at Staff House, University of Birmingham. This event is for senior researchers. Participation is open to those with ideas for research projects only. Anyone wishing to attend who has not been invited please send a brief outline of a research proposal to Professor Sorell (t.sorell@bham.ac.uk)

The Fifth meeting of the AHRC Microfinance Research Network will be held
on 4 November 2010 in the University of Birmingham Conference Centre.
This event is being jointly organized with the Centre for European
Research in Microfinance (CERMi) in Brussels c0-directed by Dr Marek Hudon.
The two themes are: women and microfinance and donors and microfinance.
The confirmed speakers are Patrice North, Inez Murray, Ahmad Nawaz,
Bruno Molijn and Bernd Balkenhol.

On the 3rd November in the afternoon (2-5.30 pm), there will be
discussions about possible funded research projects involving Network
members, and a paper will be given by Roy Mersland (University of Agder,
Norway). This event will be held at Staff House, University of
Birmingham. This event is for senior researchers. Participation is open
to those with ideas for research projects only. Anyone wishing to attend
who has not been invited please send a brief outline of a research
proposal to Professor Sorell (t.sorell@bham.ac.uk)

Here are the powerpoint presentations from the presenters at our fourth meeting – all kinds of comments are kindly invited.

Tom Sorell.ppt /  Udo Reifner.ppt /  Lindsey Appleyard.ppt /  Soléne Morvant-Roux.ppt /  Malcolm Harper.ppt /  Georges Gloukoviezoff.ppt

The fourth meeting of the AHRC Microfinance Network was held on May 26 at University of Birmingham. The theme of the meeting was empirical research on and experiences of financial exclusion, both in the North and the South, and we were very pleased to have the following distinguished speakers with us on this day: Udo Reifner, Professor of Commercial Law at Hamburg University and Chairman of the European Coalition for Responsible Credit, Lindsey Appleyard, Research Fellow at the Centre for Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) at University of Birmingham, Solene Morvant-Roux, Research Fellow at the Institut de Recherches pour le Developpement in France, Malcolm Harper, Emeritus Professor at Cranfield School of Management and Chairman of M-CRIL (Micro-Credit Ratings International Ltd.), and Georges Gloukoviezoff, Independent Researcher on microfinance affiliated with Trinity College Dublin.

AHRC Microfinance Network, 26th May, 2010 Preliminary Agenda, University of Birmingham
Time	Speaker	Event
9.30 – 9.45	Tom Sorell	Introduction
9.45 – 10.45	Udo Reifner	Preventing the next financial crisis – Good debtors and Responsible Credit are the Keys
10.45 – 11.00		Tea Break
11.00 – 12.00	Lindsey Appleyard	Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs): Geographies of Financial Inclusion in the US and UK
12.00 – 13.00	Solene Morvant	From debt to over-indebtedness in southern countries: Processes, practices and meanings
13.00 – 14.00	-	Lunch
14.00 – 15.00	Malcolm Harper	Is mirofinance just another business?
15.00 – 16.00	Georges Gloukoviezoff	Microfinance as a Tool of Financial Inclusion

The third meeting of the AHRC Research Network on Microfinance was held on November 11 at University of Birmingham. The topic for the day was ‘Microfinance and Financial Exclusion in the North’ and we were very pleased to have as speakers a number of very distinguished microfinance practitioners with experiences of working with financial exclusion both in the North and the South: Rosalind Copisarow, formerly of Accion International and founder of Street (UK), Maria Nowak, President of ADIE (France), Grzegorz Galusek, Executive Director of the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (Poland), Neil Boss, Senior Underwriter for Accion USA, Mark Hannam and Faisel Rahman, Chair and Managing Director of Fair Finance (UK), and Steve Walker, Chief Executive of Aston Reinvestment Trust (UK).

Below are some photos from meeting three, courtesy of Charlie Tseng. Click on a picture to see it in full size.

One of the presenters at meeting three will be Marcin Kawiński, and below you can find a presentation from him. Marcin Kawiński is Reader in the Department of Social Insurance at the Warsaw School of Economics. His research interests include microfinance and microinsurance, as well as health care insurance and pension reform. He has also been a Visiting Fellow in the Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham.

Microinsurance in Poland.pptx

AHRC Microfinance Network Meeting #3 Wednesday, 11th November, 2009 University of Birmingham ‘Microfinance and Financial Exclusion in the North’
Time	Speaker(s)	Event
9.00 – 9.30	Tom Sorell	Introduction to day and to network members
9.30 – 10.45	Rosalind Copisarow/ Maria Nowak	Joint Session: ‘Overview:  Microfinance in the North, South and Eastern Europe’
10.45 – 11.00		Tea Break
11.00 – 12.00	Grzegorz Galusek	Microfinance in Eastern Europe: too Much or Not Enough?
12.00 – 13.00	Neil Boss (Accion USA)	Microfinance in the U.S., Adapting to a New Reality.
13.00 – 14.15		Lunch
14.15  – 15.30	Mark Hannam/ Faisel Rahman	Joint Session: ‘Price Discovery in Sub-Prime Lending: calculating the real cost of ignorance and exclusion’
15.30 – 16.30	Steve Walker	Community Finance in the UK and ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust): lessons over 12 years.
16.30 – 16.45		Bar/ Dinner